Peter Frates” father: Focus on ALS cure, not dogma

Share this:

Above, from left, John Frates and sons Peter and Andrew take the ALS ice bucket challenge in Beverly.

‘SOCIAL MEDIA MIRACLE’: Jim Rigg, at right in the top photo, superintendent of schools for the Cincinnati Archdiocese, has counseled students not to donate to the ALS Association because of the church’s stem cell stance.

(Beverly,MA 08/06/14) Portrait of interview subjects (LTOR) John and Nancy Frates with son Pete, Pete's wife Julie and Pete's brother Andrew on Friday, August 08, 2014. NOTE: Pete Frates has been diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease Staff photo by Patrick Whittemore.

The Beverly father of former BC baseball player Peter Frates — responding to a Cincinnati church leader who threw cold water on the family’s wildly successful ice bucket challenge because it funds ALS embryonic stem cell research — said he’s a good Catholic who just wants to find a cure for his son.

“I understand the Catholic dogma. I’m also conflicted with the teachings, I struggle with it, too. I just want my son cured,” John Frates told the Herald yesterday.

“Pete’s priest who was the BC baseball chaplain when Pete was playing did the ice bucket challenge back when it was in its infancy. When he did it I said, ‘I think you just created a new sacrament,’ ” the dad added.

The ALS Association said it has raised an unprecedented $41.8 million nationwide since the ice bucket challenge was launched last month.

“To have so much funding come about so rapidly, it really is miraculous,” John Frates said. “Especially juxtaposed with the archaic, glacial movement of ALS research. It’s amazing. It’s a social media miracle.”

But the late-summer viral sensation — that has lured former presidents, celebrities and athletes — suffered a setback this week when Jim Rigg, the superintendent of Catholic schools for the Cincinnati Archdiocese, told students to stop any plans to donate to the ALS group because it supports research using embryonic stem cells, which violates the teachings of the church.

Rigg told the Ohio schools to “immediately cease” and give instead to Medical Research Institute in Iowa City, Iowa, which conducts “pro-life” research.

Boston’s Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley declined to weigh in on the ALS soaking dares last night.

John Frates said he and his family are “very cognizant” of the controversy surrounding embryonic stem cell research. His 89-year-old father served as an architect for the Archdiocese of Boston many years ago, and his uncle was a priest.

But his focus now is on helping to fight the disease that holds his 29-year-old son prisoner in his own body — one that has seen very little movement on the research front since it was discovered. Only one drug is used to treat ALS, and it only moderately slows the progression.

The ice bucket campaign has offered new hope as it has spread from coast to coast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where friends challenge each other to either brave a bucket of ice-filled water, and donate $10 to ALS research, or donate $100 to ALS research and skip the icy water bath.

The Cincinnati setback, the ALS organization said, should not scare off Catholics who still want to donate.

Jan Obermann, care services manager for the nonprofit’s Massachusetts chapter, said the ALS organization only funds one embryonic stem cell study. Most of the stem cell research funded by the association uses cells from the skin and blood of adult patients, she said.

There’s also an opt-out clause, she added, where donors “can stipulate that their dollars not be invested in that particular area.”